[Wikimedia-l] Big Fat Brussels Gathering

[Dimitar Parvanov Dimitrov]

Hi again,

if there ever will be a WCA or something like that, then this will be a
> task for them imo. For the time being, "mapping" could be done by the
> future Belgian chapter or by some interested local volunteers.
>

I strongly disagree. As a local volunteer doing monitoring and as someone
who is currently very actively involved in the founding of Wikimedia
Belgium.

There are two reasons for that:

1. We're not talking about Belgian legislation or the Belgian
government/parliament here. We're talking about the EU institutions. And if
you want them to listen to you, you need to represent an European
community. Otherwise the French will talk to the French government, the
Germans to the German and the Bulgarians to the Bulgarian. This is by far
not the best way to proceed and is why this initiative is very necessary.

2. Even if we'd decide that WMBE should lead this initiative (and that is
in fact a discussed option), in Belgium we're at best at least a year away
from having that kind of infrastructure. We're still to subit our statutes
to the AffCom. At the same time I just had it confirmed from a Commissoin
employee tonight that they plan to table the new copyright legislation
proposal at the beginning of next year the latest.

As a local volunteer who is doing monitoring my opinion is that there is
dire need an international group of wikimedians to rely on support. I
oftentimes feel overwhealmed.

Cheers,
Dimi